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What the Good Samaritan Can Teach Us – – – Dallas Willard

What the good Samaritan can teach us

In the story of the good Samaritan, Jesus not only teaches us to help people in need; more deeply, he teaches us that we cannot identify who “has it,” who is “in” with God, who is “blessed,” by looking at exteriors of any sort. That is a matter of the heart. There alone the kingdom of the heavens and human kingdoms great and small are knit together. Draw any cultural or social line you wish, and God will find his way beyond it. “Human beings look at the outer appearance, but Jehovah looks on the heart” (1 Sam. 16:7). And “what humanity highly regards can be sickening to God” (Luke 16:15).

From The Divine Conspiracy: Rediscovering Our Hidden Life in God. Copyright © 1997 by Dallas Willard. All rights reserved. Used with permission of HarperCollins Publishers.

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The Role of Jesus’s Parables – – – Dallas Willard

The role of Jesus’ parables

Jesus teaches contextually and concretely, from the immediate surroundings, if possible, or at least from events of ordinary life. This is seen in his well-known use of the parable—which, from its origin in the Greek word paraballein, literally means to throw one thing down alongside another. Parables are not just pretty stories that are easy to remember; rather, they help us understand something difficult by comparing it to, placing it beside, something with which we are very familiar, and always something concrete, specific.

From The Divine Conspiracy: Rediscovering Our Hidden Life in God. Copyright © 1997 by Dallas Willard. All rights reserved. Used with permission of HarperCollins Publishers.

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Strength for Christian Contentment

“What is Christian contentment? I would define it as a settled condition of peacefulness and happiness in whatever God has willed to be our portion. It is an act of faith, of trust in the sovereignty of God and in His essential goodness for us. It is a cheerful resignation to God’s superior wisdom, His higher plans and purposes. It rests entirely on God’s character and promises.” From Two Journeys…………… 

https://twojourneys.org/articles/detail/2616630/strength-for-christian-contentment/